I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8953 

To amend the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 to make 

improvements to that Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 8, 2024 

Mr. ZINKE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act 

of 2010 to make improvements to that Act, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crow Tribe Water 

5 Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CROW TRIBE WATER RIGHTS SETTLEMENT. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 403 of the Crow Tribe 

8 Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111– 

9 291; 124 Stat. 3097) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking paragraph (11) and inserting 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(11) MR&I PROJECT.—The term ‘MR&I 

4 Project’ means an activity described in clauses (i) 

5 through (iii) of section 411(e)(3)(F).’’; and 

6 (2) in paragraph (12)— 

7 (A) in the paragraph heading, by striking 

8 ‘‘SYSTEM’’ and inserting ‘‘PROJECTS’’; and 

9 (B) in subparagraphs (A) through (C), by 

10 striking ‘‘System’’ each place it appears and in11 serting ‘‘Projects’’. 

12 (b) REPEAL OF MR&I SYSTEM.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 406 of the Crow 

14 Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public 

15 Law 111–291; 124 Stat. 3102) is repealed. 

16 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con17 tents for the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (Public 

18 Law 111–291; 124 Stat. 3064) is amended by strik19 ing the item relating to section 406. 

20 (c) CROW SETTLEMENT FUND.—Section 411 of the 

21 Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public 

22 Law 111–291; 124 Stat. 3113) is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘to be admin24 istered by the Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘to be man25 aged, invested, and distributed by the Secretary and 


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1 to remain available until expended, withdrawn, or re2 verted to the general fund of the Treasury, con3 sisting of amounts deposited in the Fund under sub4 section (b), together with any investment earnings, 

5 including interest, earned on those amounts,’’; 

6 (2) in subsections (b) and (c), by striking ‘‘sec7 tion 414’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘sec8 tion 415’’; 

9 (3) in subsection (c)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Sys11 tem’’ and inserting ‘‘Projects’’; and 

12 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(5) The MR&I Projects Account, to be estab14 lished as soon as practicable after the date of enact15 ment of the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement 

16 Amendments Act of 2024, consisting of— 

17 ‘‘(A) amounts made available pursuant to 

18 paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 415(b) that 

19 are appropriated after the date of enactment of 

20 the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement 

21 Amendments Act of 2024; and 

22 ‘‘(B) amounts to be deposited pursuant to 

23 section 415(h)(3)(B).’’; 

24 (4) in subsection (e)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking subpara2 graph (C) and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(C) the American Indian Trust Fund 

4 Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 

5 4001 et seq.).’’; and 

6 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

7 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

8 ‘‘through (E)’’ and inserting ‘‘through 

9 (F)’’; 

10 (ii) in subparagraph (C)(i), by strik11 ing ‘‘section 412’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

12 413’’; 

13 (iii) in subparagraph (E)— 

14 (I) in the subparagraph heading, 

15 by striking ‘‘SYSTEM’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘PROJECTS’’; and 

17 (II) by striking ‘‘System’’ each 

18 place it appears and inserting 

19 ‘‘Projects’’; and 

20 (iv) by adding at the end the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(F) MR&I PROJECTS ACCOUNT.—Funds 

23 from the MR&I Projects Account shall be used 

24 for expenditures by the Tribe for— 


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1 ‘‘(i) planning, permitting, designing, 

2 engineering, constructing, reconstructing, 

3 replacing, rehabilitating, operating, or re4 pairing water production, treatment, or de5 livery infrastructure, including for domes6 tic and municipal use or wastewater infra7 structure; 

8 ‘‘(ii) purchasing on-Reservation land 

9 with water rights; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) complying with applicable envi11 ronmental laws.’’; 

12 (5) in subsection (f)(2), by striking ‘‘section 

13 414’’ and inserting ‘‘section 415’’; and 

14 (6) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(i) TITLE TO INFRASTRUCTURE.—Title to, control 

16 over, and operation of any project constructed using funds 

17 from the MR&I Projects Account shall remain in the 

18 Tribe. 

19 ‘‘(j) OPERATION, MAINTENANCE, AND REPLACE20 MENT.—The Federal Government shall have no obligation 

21 to pay for the operation, maintenance, or replacement of 

22 any MR&I Project.’’. 

23 (d) CROW CIP IMPLEMENTATION ACCOUNT.—The 

24 Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (31 

25 U.S.C. 1101 note; Public Law 111–291) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating sections 412 through 416 

2 as sections 413 through 417, respectively; and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 411 the following: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 412. CROW CIP IMPLEMENTATION ACCOUNT. 

5 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab6 lish a nontrust, interest-bearing account, to be known as 

7 the ‘Crow CIP Implementation Account’, to be managed 

8 and distributed by the Secretary. 

9 ‘‘(b) DEPOSITS.—The Secretary shall deposit in the 

10 Crow CIP Implementation Account— 

11 ‘‘(1) amounts made available pursuant to para12 graphs (1) and (2) of section 415(a) that are appro13 priated after the date of enactment of the Crow 

14 Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 

15 2024; and 

16 ‘‘(2) amounts to be deposited pursuant to sec17 tion 415(h)(3)(A). 

18 ‘‘(c) USES.—Amounts in the Crow CIP Implementa19 tion Account shall be used to carry out section 405. 

20 ‘‘(d) INTEREST.—In addition to the deposits made 

21 into the Crow CIP Implementation Account pursuant to 

22 subsection (b), any investment earnings, including interest 

23 credited to amounts unexpended in the Crow CIP Imple24 mentation Account, shall be available for use in accord25 ance with subsection (c).’’. 


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1 (e) YELLOWTAIL DAM, MONTANA.—Subsection 

2 (b)(1) of section 413 of the Crow Tribe Water Rights Set3 tlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–291; 124 Stat. 

4 3116) (as redesignated by subsection (d)(1)) is amended 

5 by striking ‘‘15 years’’ and inserting ‘‘20 years’’. 

6 (f) FUNDING.—Section 415 of the Crow Tribe Water 

7 Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–291; 124 

8 Stat. 3120) (as redesignated by subsection (d)(1)) is 

9 amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (e)— 

11 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

12 ‘‘SYSTEM’’ and inserting ‘‘PROJECTS’’; and 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘System’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘Projects’’; 

15 (2) in subsection (h), by adding at the end the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(3) JOINT SIGNATURE ACCOUNTS.—The Sec18 retary shall take all actions necessary to authorize 

19 the withdrawal of funds, including principal and in20 terest, held and maintained in joint signature ac21 counts in accordance with the following: 

22 ‘‘(A) CROW IMPLEMENTATION ACCOUNT.— 

23 In the special joint signature account named 

24 ‘CIP Account’ established pursuant to the 

25 agreement with the Tribe dated October 19, 


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1 2011, for the purpose of transferring and de2 positing those funds in the Crow CIP Imple3 mentation Account established by the Secretary 

4 pursuant to section 412(a). 

5 ‘‘(B) MR&I PROJECTS ACCOUNT.—In the 

6 special joint signature account named ‘MR&I 

7 Account’ established pursuant to the agreement 

8 with the Tribe dated September 13, 2012, for 

9 the purpose of transferring and depositing those 

10 funds in the MR&I Projects Account estab11 lished pursuant to section 411(c)(5).’’; and 

12 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(j) MR&I PROJECTS ACCOUNT FLUCTUATIONS IN

14 COSTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) INDEXING ADJUSTMENT.—Amounts depos16 ited in the MR&I Projects Account pursuant to sec17 tion 411(c)(5)(A) shall be increased or decreased, as 

18 appropriate, by such amounts as may be justified by 

19 reason of ordinary fluctuations in costs occurring 

20 after May 1, 2008, as indicated by the Bureau of 

21 Reclamation Construction Cost Index–Composite 

22 Trend. 

23 ‘‘(2) PERIOD OF INDEXING.—The period of in24 dexing adjustment under paragraph (1), for any in25 crement of funding, shall end on the date on which 


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1 the amounts are deposited in the MR&I Projects Ac2 count.’’. 

3 (g) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

4 (1) Section 403(9) of the Crow Tribe Water 

5 Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111– 

6 291; 124 Stat. 3098) is amended by striking ‘‘(25 

7 U.S.C. 450b)’’ and inserting ‘‘(25 U.S.C. 5304)’’. 

8 (2) Section 409(b) of the Crow Tribe Water 

9 Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111– 

10 291; 124 Stat. 3108) is amended, in each of para11 graphs (1) and (2), by striking ‘‘section 414’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘section 415’’. 

13 (3) Section 410(e)(1) of the Crow Tribe Water 

14 Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111– 

15 291; 124 Stat. 3112) is amended— 

16 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘sec17 tion 414’’ and inserting ‘‘section 415’’; and 

18 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

19 ‘‘agreements with the Tribe required by sections 

20 405(a) and 406(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘agreement 

21 with the Tribe required by section 405(a)’’. 

22 (4) Section 416 of the Crow Tribe Water 

23 Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (31 U.S.C. 1105 

24 note; Public Law 111–291) (as redesignated by sub25 section (d)(1)) is amended, in each of paragraphs 


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1 (3) and (4), by striking ‘‘section 414’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘section 415’’. 

3 (h) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

4 for the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (Public Law 111– 

5 291; 124 Stat. 3064) is amended by striking the items 

6 relating to sections 407 through 416 and inserting the fol7 lowing: 

‘‘Sec. 407. Tribal water rights. 

‘‘Sec. 408. Storage allocation from Bighorn Lake. 

‘‘Sec. 409. Satisfaction of claims. 

‘‘Sec. 410. Waivers and releases of claims. 

‘‘Sec. 411. Crow Settlement Fund. 

‘‘Sec. 412. Crow CIP Implementation Account. 

‘‘Sec. 413. Yellowtail Dam, Montana. 

‘‘Sec. 414. Miscellaneous provisions. 

‘‘Sec. 415. Funding. 

‘‘Sec. 416. Repeal on failure to meet enforceability date. 

‘‘Sec. 417. Antideficiency.’’. 

Æ 


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